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Pivoting Again, Catabasis Looks to NASH After Cholesterol Drug Flops

Catabasis Pharmacceuticals has done its share of strategic shuffling over the past few years, and some more changes have come today.

A drug known as CAT-2054, one of two prospects Catabasis (NASDSAQ: CATB) has in clinical testing, failed a mid-stage trial in people with high cholesterol. The drug didn’t do a good enough job lowering cholesterol or triglycerides compared to a placebo, leading the Cambridge, MA-based company to say it’ll no longer advance CAT-2054 as a cholesterol treatment. The news is a setback for Catabasis, which according to a conference call last month, had been hoping to license out CAT-2054 before a Phase 3 trial.

Stockholders aren’t waiting around to see whether CAT-2054 does in fact have a future in NASH, meanwhile. Shares plummeted more than 31 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday, down to $4.50 apiece. The company went public at $12 per share in June 2015, but hasn’t closed higher than its IPO price since last August.

Here’s more on Catabasis, which was was formed in 2008 and built around a technology called “SMART-Linker” used to attach two compounds together.

Ben Fidler is Xconomy's Deputy Biotechnology Editor. You can e-mail him at bfidler@xconomy.com Follow @benthefidler